It is official for the city of Wells the City Council canvassed the election results at their meeting last Monday night, and they will not only have a new mayor come Jan. 1, they will also welcome a few new faces to their council.

Ron Gaines has served his term as Wells’ city mayor and opted to pass on the re-election process. He will hand off the gavel to David Braun on Jan. 1, who won the local mayoral election with 538 votes. His competition, Lyle Doerr Jr., received 271 votes. There were also a large number of write-in votes for mayor; 231 votes to be exact.

As far as the City Council goes, Steve Burns and John Herman’s terms on the council were up, and will be filled by Brenda Weber, who received 724 votes from the election, and Crystal Dulas, who received 585 votes. Jeremie Seedorf received 504 votes. There were 24 write-in votes for City Council as well.

And while Braun will be filling the mayor’s position, his council seat will need to be filled come January.

Also at the meeting, a petition which was said to have been floating around since the end of the summer was submitted to the City Council from Brenda Weber, stating that Robin Leslie was not the right city administrator to do the job. However, when it came to the council reports portion of the City Council’s agenda, Mayor Ron Gaines moved for a vote of confidence for Leslie. Each City Council member agreed with Gaines.

From the Wells Public Utilities, the skid loader which was allocated in Wells’ budget could still be purchased this year if they wish. During their December meeting, three quotes from Case, Gehl, and John Deere will be on the table to discuss. The Public Utilities committee also recommended the retail electric rates to increase two percent in 2017 to match the wholesale cost increase, the board states it will seek approval and a resolution at December’s regular meeting.?There were no increases recommended for water rates.

From the Wells EDA, members of the board discussed the concerns of the United Hospital District parking lot. John Herman, a member of the EDA board, asked the item be discussed “with the hopes of reaching an agreement with UHD?to share some of the parking lot.”

Herman informed the EDA members that the group can improve private property, however the city cannot. Herman stated he would like to “see the community be able to use the parking lot in some fashion.”

While the CEO of UHD Rick Ash stated the hospital is eager to move forward with resurfacing and drainage improvements, their main goal is to limit truck traffic on the lot to prevent further wear and tear on their property’s lot.

Brad Heggen, president of the Wells EDA, shared that he believes encouraging Main Street parking would be a better idea for the community. The EDA said they will continue to discuss their options within the coming months.

The Wells Baseball Association is looking for lime. For the field, that is. They informed the council they were looking to donate 48 tons of lime plus application costs to the baseball field at Thompson Park, but with one small catch. They would like the city to cover the trucking and hauling costs.

The lime the baseball association chose would be a higher quality product from Shakopee. It was noted past practices have been getting lime from SMC in Mankato, but member Pat Frank indicated there was a significant difference in the quality between the two locations of lime.

The baseball association fully intends to continue to maintain the field, but this would be a one time donation to the city of Wells from the baseball association. Street Department foreman Mike Pyzick estimated the trucking could take a full two days. A close cost estimate of the trucking was said to be close to $500. The council approved the donation and the cost of hauling the lime.

Before the start of the council meeting, the City Council members met to have yet another budget workshop before the Truth in Taxation meeting on Dec. 12. No action was taken during the workshop.